who_is_she | (no subject)

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It had been about a week since he and Roddie had kissed, and Tony was greatly enjoying this honeymoon period. Roddie was sweet and endearing and thoughtful and perfect, and got an adorable little blush when Tony kissed him. Tony was happier than he had been in years, ten years, incandescently, all-consumingly happy, and he knew already that only the most dire of situations would take him away from Roddie's side.

They were both in the cockpit, and Tony was ostensibly doing navigation and watching the scanners, but in reality he was watching Roddie, with his feet kicked up on the console and his hands laced together behind his head. Roddie was just unbelievably hot, and Tony couldn't imagine getting tired of looking at him.

"Hey, Roddie--" Tony starts to ask if Roddie wants a very particular kind of break, when a shrill beeping from the console he was supposed to be watching interrupted him. He turns back to it, frowning, expecting some minor debris or maybe an asteroid--but what he sees makes his frown deepen.

"Incoming craft," he says, kicking his feet down from the console to tap around on the scanners, "It's moving fast, looks like it's on intercept-- incoming transmission." He lets the message play through the speakers, wincing slightly.

"You finally got rid of that rinky-dink piece of crap ship, huh Miller? Too bad this one isn't as fast."

Tony recognizes the voice immediately, and smiles a little, shaking his head.

"It's been five years, old man, I thought I'd finally give you a fighting chance of catching me," he radios back, then clicks off the transmission.

"Taking evasive action," he says, disabling the slow autopilot so he can take control of the ship and put it in high gear, navigating away from the approaching craft, "So, Roddie, remember when I said there were people after me, and they were gonna find me? Looks like it's about that time."

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Roddie's mouth hangs open as the message plays, and he stares at Tony, bewildered.

"You -- what?" he says disbelievingly, gripping tight at the armrest of his chair as the ship's artificial gravity and momentum stabilizers fail momentarily to adjust themselves to their new speed and direction.

"I thought you were messing with me about that!" he says, his tone somewhat shrill as his heart starts thumping hard against his ribs, "Like, trying to scare me off the job, you mean there really are --"

"You're still transmitting by the way, kid," the voice comes chuckling over the speakers, making Roddie jump, "Who's this, new boyfriend?"

The tone in the stranger's voice baffles Roddie further, and he slams on the button to stop the transmission several times before the light finally goes out.

"What is this, who is this?" he asks, turning to Tony with wide eyes, "Is he, like, a crazy ex or something, what, what is going on?"

Tony laughs, shaking his head, grunting as he slams on the controls, doing a hairpin turn and sending the ship right towards an asteroid field.

"No way, he's not my type," he says, turning his head to send Roddie a grin and a wink, "That's Zakeef. He's been after me for like, five years, a mercenary hired by the people who did this," he waves his robotic arm, "They want their investment back, and they don't much care about the guy it's attached to. Honestly, I think he kind of likes me, or he would have caught me already. He almost did one time, but then he got hit by a bus. He almost died, but I carried him to the hospital. Probably not the best move, but I kinda like the guy." Tony shrugs, focusing on the viewscreen and the radar as they enter the field.

"An asteroid field? I thought you learned your lesson the first time, kid," Zakeef radios back, and Tony laughs.

"As I recall, you're the one who wrecked his ship. What's a couple of concussions between friends?" he says, to the reply of Zakeef's laughter.

Roddie's expression only grows more bewildered at Tony's explanation, and he grips the arms of the chair even harder, feeling as though he might spill his guts at any moment now.

"Should -- Should we land the ship or something?" he asks, swallowing hard, "We don't have any weaponry or escape pods, all we've got is a shield generator and -- these asteroids are tearing that up -- oh, God, oh, shit, Tony."

"Your buddy sounds like he's not doing so good," Zakeef chuckles, then his tone suddenly grows slightly more serious.

"You know, I'm only getting paid to kill you, not him, but as things stand he's in my way."

Tony grits his teeth, reluctant to lose the space and metal between him and Zakeef, but the threat of Roddie getting hurt shakes him to his bones.

"All right, fine," he growls, picking out the largest asteroid nearby and pinging its location to Zakeef, "We'll land here, duke it out like the polite beings we are, and nobody gets caught in the crossfire, okay?"

"...Deal," Zakeef says after a moment, and Tony clicks off the transmission, making sure it's off before he starts to land the ship. He was worried about facing Zakeef in hand to hand combat, he wasn't sure he'd be able to take him, but Roddie was right--this ship couldn't take the bombardment.

"Roddie, look," he says, his expression grim as he focuses on landing, "I want you to get out of here, after I land."

"Are you fucking kidding me? Tony, what the fuck," Roddie swears with feeling, his eyes wide and horrified and his fear making him forget all the years his parents made him wash his mouth out with soap, "No fucking way, I'm not leaving you here to get your brains blown out by some jackoff mercenary, Tony, are you serious?"

He stands up as the ship lands and grabs a gun off the wall beside them, loading it quickly and stowing it at his side.

"I have combat training, I'm coming with you," he says firmly.

Tony is stunned by Roddie's outburst, stunned by the fierceness with which Roddie wants to back him up, something he'd never experienced or expected. He's staring at Roddie, so it takes the blaring of an alarm on the console to break his attention, so that he can land the ship without crashing it. The realization that the strength and depth of his feelings for Roddie might be mirrored right back at him is a world-shaking change. He waits until the ship is safely landed before he gets up, moving over to Roddie in a couple swift steps and grabbing his face, kissing him deeply.

"I'm sorry," he says lowly when he pulls away, closing his eyes and pressing his forehead against Roddie's, "I didn't think you'd... Want to stay." His hands drop down to Roddie's shoulders, fisting in the fabric of his shirt, "I love you."

Roddie is startled out of his panic temporarily by the kiss, but once he processes it he hugs Tony close around his middle, kissing him thoroughly in return. When they break apart his expression has softened, and one of his hands comes up to brush his thumb over Tony's cheek.

"I love you too," he says gently, "Very...very much, of course I'm staying with you. We're going to be all right, okay? Promise, we will, I love you."

Tony nods, reluctant to pull away from the embrace, settling for kissing Roddie again before he pulls back. He activates his mask and goggles, getting another mask from a nearby storage box and making sure it's secured over Roddie's face before he heads for the airlock. He heads out first, his robotic arm shifted into a rifle, looking around for Zakeef. He spots his ship nearby, and then Zakeef himself emerges from the shadows near it, wielding two pistols. Tony glances back at Roddie, right at his side, and grimaces.

"I almost thought you weren't coming," Zakeef says, his voice muffled by his own mask.

"Zakeef-- look. We don't have to do this," he says, shaking his head a little, "I think we both know if you really wanted to kill me you would have done it already." Really, he just doesn't want to get into the same old fight they've done over and over--and risk Roddie getting caught in the crossfire.

Zakeef stands in silence for a few moments, looking back and forth between the two humans and keeping his gun pointed at Tony.

"You know I can't do that," he says gruffly, and the bemusement that was previously present in his tone is now nowhere to be found, "I've got a contract, and it's gone unfilled for five years. There's no way around this."

Despite his words, he makes no move to shoot anyone, lowering his gun the slightest bit instead.

"You know I wasn't expecting this kind of response when I threatened to shoot your buddy here," he says, gesturing to Roddie with a jerk of his head, "What gives? I thought you rode solo."

Tony glances back at Roddie again, frowning, reluctant to divulge information that could be exploited as a weakness.

"People change," he says after a tense moment, shrugging, "I don't go solo anymore." He doesn't really want to give any more information than that, or risk Zakeef just shooting Roddie. He knows he'd give himself over in a second, if it meant saving Roddie, though he'd also do anything to keep that from happening.

"So are we doing this or what?" he exclaims, tensing further at the odd silence.

Zakeef looks back and forth between them, from Tony to his terrified looking friend, who was staring at him with wide eyes over the top of his oxygen mask. Actually, he thinks, they both seemed terrified in their own way, and he can't help but think, now that he's up close, both of them were far too young for this, barely older than he was when this life had been thrust upon him.

He sighs reluctantly, and holsters his gun.

"I get the feeling if I shoot one of you I'll have to shoot you both," he says, crossing his arms, "I don't like doing collateral damage. I'm afraid the only way out of this contract is if one of us ends up dead, though."

"What?!" Tony exclaims, slumping a little, "What are you talking about? You want me to kill you?" Tony glances back at Roddie again, starting to shake a little as the stress from this situation started to mount. He lowered his robotic arm a little, and then it changed back to its usual arm-shape, almost without him telling it to.

"I... I can't do that," he says, shaking his head, his shoulders trembling, "I couldn't. I..." He trails off, looking back at Roddie, looking for his opinion, or just finding comfort in his presence.

"Look, kid, I don't have a lot going for me," he laughs grimly, "My family's dead, all my friends are dead, my people are dead, my planet is dead, I kill people for money. These people own me, and now I'm in so much debt from this job that I can't even afford to be drunk while I do their dirty work for them anymore."

He pulls a pistol from his hip, smaller than the shotgun he'd been brandishing before, and checks the clip.

"Look, if you won't do it, and he won't do it --"

"Jesus Christ, just hold on a second!" Roddie half-screams, finally breaking his silence. He inhales and exhales several times before continuing at a lower volume, "Just -- hold on! Mercenary guy -- Zakeef -- how much do you owe these people?"

"...One hundred thousand credits," Zakeef says, halting his progress in loading the gun and giving him a curious look.

"All right. All right!" Roddie says, "Okay, look, I have a trust fund. My parents will cut me off from it the minute I quit my job, but I haven't...filed my resignation yet, look, I'll -- wire the money to you so you can pay off your debt, just, nobody has to die, man. I'm sure you've got someone, something to live for, right?"

Zakeef stares at him, silently astounded, and there's a long silence between them.

"You're -- paying my debt," he repeats dumbly, "You're...buying me from these people, I--"

He stares at the gun in his hands for a long moment, his head spinning.

"...I will be...unemployed, if I accept," he says flatly, disbelievingly, "I won't even be able to afford to get my ship to the nearest station."

"We'll tow you," Roddie says immediately, "You can stay in one of the spare rooms on board. Come on, man, like you said, you've got nothing to lose."

Zakeef turns to Tony, and under his mask his expression is one of bewilderment. He doesn't speak, only looks at him, silently waiting for him to say something to combat his friend's offer.

Tony gapes at Roddie, and his first thought is that he knew Roddie was loaded, but not that loaded. His second is Oh my God, I love him so much, which is accompanied by an embarrassing lightheadedness which is totally not a swoon.

Then he really hears what Roddie said, about resigning, and his heart does a flip.

"You're resigning?" Tony repeats, stunned, not sure what to do with so much intensity in one situation. His shaking just gets worse, compounded by not being sure what Roddie means by resigning--like, leaving him and Zakeef on a rock while he goes back to Earth with his ship? --but even as Tony thinks that, he knows it's not true. Love, Roddie had said, had returned, just a few minutes ago. Tony's head was spinning.

"You're... Paying him off? And resigning? What... Why?" Tony doesn't mean for that to sound so rough, but he can't mask the rush of emotion he's feeling.

"I-I'm still working out the details in my head!" Roddie says defensively, gesturing wildly before briefly clutching the sides of his head and exhaling heavily, "I was going to tell you later, but you were right, about my work not making me happy, so -- a-after we've finished our work together, which we almost have, I-I wanted to...stop working with the bureau and come with you. You being dead would kind of throw a wrench in that, though, and I'd rather this guy not have to shoot himself in the fucking head, so of course I'm paying him off, I --"

His voice starts to shake, and he looks back and forth between Zakeef and Tony before giving Tony a pleading look over the top of his breathing mask.

"C-Can we talk about this later in private?" he asks, "Please, let's all just...get out of here."

Tony's expression crumples with concern for Roddie, and the stress he must be under, and he nods, swallowing.

"Yeah... Yeah, all right," he says, reaching over to wrap his arm around Roddie's shoulders, pulling him close, "Follow me, then," he says to Zakeef, a little weirded out at talking so familiarly to the guy who's been trying to kill him for years.

He doesn't remove his arm from Roddie, leading him back up to the ship, Zakeef following behind them. Tony waits for Zakeef to come inside the airlock before he closes it, the air hissing into the chamber, Tony's mask retracting when the air reaches breathable levels.

"...So," he says, eyebrows raised as he looks over at Zakeef, "Uh, this is Roddie, by the way, now that we're all friends," he says, smiling a little and gesturing to Roddie, "I'll, uh, get back to the cockpit and hook up your ship."

Roddie waves when he'd introduced, and gets a stiff nod from Zakeef in return.

"Right," Zakeef says, clearing his throat. He's clearly numb from the shock of having this stranger offer to repay his debts, especially when moments ago he had been mentally prepared to end his own life.

"I'll come with you," Roddie says quickly, clearly not eager to spend any awkward one-on-one time with the stranger just yet, and he follows closely behind Tony to the cockpit.

Tony settles down into the pilot's seat, starting up the engines and setting the tractor beam to tow Zakeef's ship. When he sees Roddie entering the room behind him he smiles a little, setting a few things to idle before abandoning the controls and standing up, moving over to Roddie.

"Hey," he says, reaching out to cup his hand over Roddie's cheek, "You okay?"

"I...yeah," Roddie breathes, despite still being visibly shaken, leaning gratefully into the touch and rubbing his hand up and down Tony's forearm, "I just...didn't really want to have that conversation in front of him, I was afraid it was gonna get...sappy."

He smiles a little, taking Tony's hand into his and pressing a kiss to his fingers as he turns his eyes down between them.

"I...you were right about everything, like you said," he says quietly, "I've...I kept trying to convince myself I was happy, but I just...I can't anymore. I'm happy with you, I've been happier than I've ever been these past months with you, and I want...you. So. That's why. Because I love you."

Tony smiles, putting his hand on Roddie's neck instead, kissing his mouth once.

"I'm glad. Well... not that you haven't been happy, before, but... I'm glad you are now. I'm..." he pauses, looking down and swallowing thickly, "I've been... happier, too. I mean... I've been alone for most of the last ten years, and I... At first it was hell, being on those ships, but you... You made everything better. You helped me trust someone again." He looks back up at Roddie, his eyes heavy with emotion, his hand clutching a little at the back of his neck, "I... love you too."

Roddie nods, his face full of sympathy and feeling, and he pulls Tony close, kissing his cheek quickly before wrapping him in a tight hug.

"...I guess we should go help your...goat friend settle in," he says, without pulling away from him, "Do you think this was a stupid idea, paying him off? What if I totally blew it and this blows up in our face somehow and -- God, I need to think these things through."

Tony laughs, shaking his head.

"No, I think it was selfless and brave and thoughtful and I keep thinking I couldn't possibly love you any more than I do and then you go and do something like that," he says, smiling, his hand on Roddie's neck pulling him in for another, deeper kiss.

When he pulls back he sighs, making himself take a step back and turn back towards the controls. "Do you wanna handle the piloting? Or should I?"

"I've got it," Roddie says, grinning at him sheepishly and blushing slightly as he swipes his finger over his lips. He kisses his cheek one last time before sitting down in the pilot's chair, and despite the way his hands were still shaking from adrenaline he felt a sense that, for once, things were going to work out for him for the better.

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